


never let go

by suneye



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: (LOTS of hugs), Canon-Typical Violence, Episode: s03e12 Original Sin, Episode: s03e13 Beati Bellicosi, Family, Father-Daughter Feels, Fluff, Hugs, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Other, Reunions, the fact that I could fit everyone but Maia into this is a goddamn crime, the others are there too I guess, uncle-niece feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-14
Packaged: 2019-11-17 19:47:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18105245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suneye/pseuds/suneye
Summary: "She’s so close - so within reach - that he begins to wonder if it was too good to be true after all."(AKA: I wrote the reunions myself because the canon ones were underwhelming.)





	never let go

At first it’s just a glimpse of portal-wind-blown red hair and trembling arms and she’s so close - so within reach - that Luke begins to wonder if it was too good to be true after all.

Then she turns to them and their drawn weapons and screams, “ _ don’t shoot! _ ” and the world collapses around Luke. Collapses so it can build itself up again, the right way this time. Collapses so she can fix it.

His body is tense, like it is before he transforms, and he feels such intense relief that he thinks he might collapse - or actually turn - because  _ she’s here _ , and  _ she’s alive _ , and she hasn’t left him yet.

Clary screams as the blade rips into her her flesh, making Luke jolt out of his trance and focus on the mission again. Jonathan (and dear god,  _ that’s  _ Jonathan?  _ That’s  _ Jocelyn’s little boy?) yells something and activates his speed rune as he runs away. Alec and Jace chase after him, but they all know it’s useless: he’s faster than they are, they don’t know where he’s going, and they can’t hurt him without hurting Clary.

Clary looks up, blinking tears of pain from her eyes, and looks right at Luke. Relief floods her face and she smiles at him for a moment before she looks away again to pull the knife out of her leg with a pained grunt.

Next thing he knows, he’s at her side, holding her under the arms to support her weight on her uninjured leg. Jace calls his name and tosses him something. Luke catches it - a stele. He hands it to Clary to activate her healing rune with. He watches the pain disappear from her face, slowly but surely. She blinks blearily up at him like she can’t quite believe he’s here.

And even though he never once doubted that she was alive and waiting for him to find her, Luke knows exactly how she feels.

“Luke-” Clary starts, but is instantly cut off by him pulling her into the biggest hug he’s ever given another person, her words getting muffled into his shoulder.

It takes her a moment to shake off the shock and hug him back. But when she does, it’s like she never wants to let go. It’s an awkward angle for a hug, half-kneeling with Clary’s leg still soaked in blood and Luke shaking all over, but he wouldn’t exchange it for anything in the world, and he doubts she would, either.

He begins to speak, voice trembling from the onslaught of emotions. “I thought I’d lost you.” And he had - for only a few brief,  _ horrible  _ hours that felt like a lifetime before he decided,  _ no, she’s not dead, she can’t be dead, I’m going to get her back _ , he had thought he would never see her again. “I was so scared something had happened to you…”

“I’m sorry,” she gasps into the hug, tightening her hold on him. She sounds close to tears.

_ God, _ Luke thinks,  _ she must have been so scared. _

“Don’t apologize,” he says, and realizes he’s actually crying. “You did nothing wrong. But  _ please-  _ don’t leave me again.”

He feels her nod against him and wraps his arms even tighter around her. He doesn’t want to let go. If he does, she’ll slip out of his grasp again. She’ll go away again. She’ll get hurt again.

“Luke?” Clary laughs lightly into his shirt. “I kinda can’t breathe.”

_ I couldn’t breathe when you weren’t there, _ he thinks. But he says, “Sorry, kiddo,” and slowly loosens his grip and lets her pull away.

His place in her embrace is replaced by Jace, who’s laughing almost giddily, tears streaming down his face, before she’s even registered that he’s there.

“Jace?” she mutters, then throws her arms around his neck and says his name again, more softly. He pulls back to cup her face with both hands.

“I can’t believe you’re actually here,” Jace says. “I can’t believe I’m actually holding you.”

She smiles at him. “I’m here,” she assures him. “And you are.”

“Clary,” his voice cracks. “Clary, I am  _ so  _ sorry. About everything. I-”

That’s when she steps back, breaks the hug. “Not now,” she says. Her voice is kind, but strained. “We can talk later, okay?”

*

The Paris Institute gives Clary a change of clothes and provides a portal for them back to New York. They don’t ask Clary a lot of questions about the dead Shadowhunter, and she appreciates it. Right now, she just wants to get home and sleep and forget all of this for just a little while.

She’s confronted with the rune in the mirror as she’s changing and is reminded that that’s not going to be possible.

She meets Alec in the room the portal’s supposed to open up in.

“Hey,” she says.

“Hey,” he says. He looks tired, but smiles at her anyway. “I should’ve known you couldn’t be that easy to kill.”

Clary laughs. “Guess you’re gonna have to get used to me,” she shoots back lightly.

“I guess there are worse things in the world.”

A moment passes, and Alec’s smile disappears. Clary immediately fears the worst - no one has told her what happened after Lilith’s banishment yet. If Alec looks happy to see her, that means Izzy and Magnus are okay. But Simon-

The last time she saw him he was being flung out of a penthouse. Only because he agreed to go through with  _ her  _ plan. If anything’s happened to him…

“What’s wrong?” she asks Alec before she can picture any of the horrible things that could have happened to Simon.

“I texted the others to meet us at the Institute. Simon and Izzy don’t know you’re…you know, alive, yet.”

Clary didn’t realize she’d stopped breathing at the thought of Simon being hurt, but she’s thankful to have oxygen back in her lungs again.

“But, listen,” Alec goes on. “It’s Magnus.”

And she’s not breathing again.

“He’s lost his magic. So just don’t bring it up.”

“Oh my god, how-?”

They’re interrupted by Luke and Jace’s arrival, followed by the Parisian warlock whose portal they’re using. Luke takes her hand and, as soon as the portal opens, they step through it together.

*

“Magnus!”

At the sound of Alec’s cheery voice, Magnus halts his nervous pacing in the Institute’s hall and turns towards him.

“Look who’s here,” Alec says. But he doesn’t need to say anything. Magnus couldn’t miss her if he tried. Not with the way she bounds in, alive and well, red hair flying behind her with her quick, happy steps.

He thinks of her at six years old, with wide eyes and trembling lips. At eleven, with a long ponytail and paint under her fingernails. At thirteen, sketching on his couch while he and Jocelyn argued in hushed voices in the kitchen. Sixteen, asking a thousand questions and making him feel worse and worse about taking her memories with each one.

Eighteen, a rune on her neck and a sword in her hand, promising him that they can do this, that everything will be okay.

He was right to believe her.

“Hi!” she greets with a bright smile. Magnus doesn’t respond - just engulfs her in a hug so tight and sudden that the breath gets knocked out of her.  Clary laughs at the suddenness of it. “Yeah,” she says softly, rising on her tiptoes to hug him back as best as she can. “I missed you, too.”

Magnus swallows around the lump in his throat before pulling back to look at her - really just  _ look  _ at her for a moment. She looks a little pale and disheveled, but that’s probably nothing out of the ordinary. He’s probably just noticing it more because he’s worried about what’s happened to her in the week ( _ has it really only been a week? _ ) she’s been gone. Allegedly  _ dead _ .

But she’s not dead. She’s alive and he’s holding her and she’s clutching his arms like she knows how badly he needs to feel the pressure against his cold skin. It makes him forget about how crazy everything is and how little time he has left for a moment.

“I more than just ‘missed you’, biscuit,” Magnus says. “What happened? You’re not hurt, are you?”

Clary shakes her head. “No, I’m fine. It’s a long story. I’m magically linked to my evil brother and I stabbed myself in the leg, but all’s well that ends well, right?”

“I’m…going to need more detail on some of that.”

“Honestly, me too.”

They share a short laugh just before they’re interrupted by-

“Clary?”

It’s Simon, frozen at the other end of the room, trying to decide if he should believe his eyes or not. Jace nods and Simon starts to  _ run _ . Magnus swiftly but reluctantly lets go of Clary to step out of his way.

Simon skids to a halt in front of her, looking her up and down before pulling her into his arms. When he pulls back, his eyes are filled with tears. “Am I dreaming?” he asks.

“No,” Clary promises.

“I’m not?”

“No.”

Magnus watches with a smile on his face and Alec’s hand on his shoulder as Clary laughs when Simon picks her up in his arms and spins her around. Isabelle walks up to them, a disbelieving smile on her face, and almost shoves Simon in her eagerness to hold Clary herself.

Magnus’ eyes drift to Luke to find him looking truly  _ alive  _ for the first time since Clary was arrested in Idris. Magnus doesn’t know exactly how Luke must be feeling - all the pain and denial and hope and relief he must have experienced in such a short time - but he knows what it’s like to lose the people you love. It feels like having a piece of your heart ripped out of you, again and again every time you remember they’re gone.

He turns back to Clary.

He’s never gotten a piece back before.

**Author's Note:**

> If Shadowhunters wants to rob me, that's fine! I am an AUTHOR! I'll write it MY DAMN SELF!
> 
> Couple quick notes:  
> -I lowkey think Izzy and Simon getting a text that said Clary's alive was kinda dumb so I decided to change that.  
> -I actually liked the Climon and Clizzy reunions, but I think they could've done more with it (hence: Simon crying in this fic). I didn't put Izzy's in because her line (which I LOVED) leads to ~plot stuff~ and I didn't feel like writing that.  
> -I wanted to sort of hint at Clary being a little uncomfortable at the mention of the things the Owl did because uh he almost killed her and obviously she would never blame Jace for it, but she also hasn't had a chance to process it (or any of her more recent traumas) so I wanted a hint of that in there.  
> -You can interpret Clary and Jace's relationship however you want in this fic. I purposefully left it ambiguous.  
> -I thought about having Alec mention Simon's family along with Magnus' magic loss but I don't know if he'd know? So let's just assume Clary and Simon talk (and cry) about it later.
> 
> Anyways, I hope this was enjoyable and as dramatic as I wanted it to be. Let me know what you think!


End file.
